Backgammon Premium

I have the ad-free version of this app and I love it nearly to the point of addiction. I primarily play backgammon, but the app also offers nackgammon, acey-ducey and Old English versions. I greatly enhanced my playing skills by using the app's "achievements" feature and progressing through easy, medium, then hard categories and earning badges as I completed fun tasks. After honing my skills against the computer, I graduated to the online version of backgammon, where I enjoy playing "live" against opponents. I rarely have to wait more than a minute for the app to match me with a player. Lastly, I appreciate comparing my growing skill level by referring to the stats on the leaderboards. I have several backgammon apps on my iPad, but this is by far my favorite!

Nice visuals, and accurately responsive to touch. But...As other users have said, on the "Easy" level (the only one I have tried thus far), the proportion of doubles rolled by the AI far exceeds chance, given the proportion rolled by the player. I don't have to be a statistician (although I am one) to know that, if these dice rolls are random, there is a very, very slim likelihood of the AI getting 10 doubles in three games, when I rolled only 2. Is it mathematically *possible*? Of course it is. So is winning the lottery ten times in a row or getting hit by asteroids...multiple times. But given the other comments along this line, the data overwhelmingly suggest a strong bias in favor of the house. To have this bias so blatant at the "Easy" level rather defeats the purpose of an "Easy" level, and would be annoying at all levels. I am an experienced backgammon player and have won enough "real life" games that I'm not whining because I lost a few. I just don't like a blatantly stacked deck! I hope that the developer will adjust the algorithm to give players *on average, across games* as many doubles as the AI receives.

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I’ve been playing this game every day for 3 - 4 years. I was very pleased with the program. It was part of my daily routine. Usually had a dozen games going at once with real people in the multiplayer mode. I could play for a while, then leave in the middle of games and come back later to pick up where I left off ... until this past weekend! It looks like the developers decided to change things. I had 11 games going with several people and now there’s no way to get back to them, they’re gone. It appears that the only way to play someone is in real time. And if you leave before completing the game, there’s no way to come back later and finish ... it’s gone. And you can no longer “Undo” a move before submitting it because the “Undo” button has been removed. Unless the developers are in the middle of a redesign and will be restoring some of the former features, what was once a great backgammon program has, in my opinion, gone down in flames. Oh, the reason I give it even 1 star is because they added the option to “ Chat” with an opponent ... and you can still play with the computer. PLEASE bring back the former version. I miss it.

I play this game a lot on the most difficult setting. But, during the end game, the app plays for position instead of maximizing removal of pieces. After mine and the app's pieces have past each other and there is no chance of hitting an opponents piece, I may have all my pieces in home and removing them while the app stacks pieces outside of home slowing it's chance to remove pieces. Another poor strategy the app uses is when all its pieces are home, if the dice roll doesn't allow removing two pieces, it make stack pieces on already occupied points instead of covering open points encase the point number is rolled later. I dislike the the new challenge interface. I don't care about the points accumulation. I tried the game that uses the points and was bored by it. I want a setting option to turn off the challenges.

I play the hard level and the higher it moves me up the more the rolls are in favor of the computer. For example: almost every time I leave an open chip the computer rolls the correct number to knock me off be board. Rarely do I get the rolls to knock the computer off. Very frustrating when you are trying to improve your skill. I don’t mind strategy but when the rolls of the dice are stacked against you it’s hard to enjoy the game. Update-nothing like 4 sets of doubles for the computer to 1 for me in when clearing the board so the computer can win by 1. I have been really paying attention to the results of the rolls. They are definitely in favor of the computer. Almost ready to try another app.